The average MyAnimeList score dropped dramatically this week when users realized that the system allows for scores lower than 5. Users who had previously been operating on 5-10 score systems were shocked to learn that MAL actually possesses the option to give an anime a 4 or lower.

“I’d never actually seen an average score lower than 6 myself,” said user animefan789, “but one day I was checking the Mars of Destruction page and noticed its score had dropped to 2.54. I wasn’t sure how this was possible, so I checked the options and saw that there were actually four choices beneath 5.”

Reporters were shocked to learn that many users were unaware there was even an option to rate lower than 7. “I’d always just assumed that MAL used a four point scale, like with those star reviews you’d see on Roger Ebert’s website,” said user Watashinai. “I’d never questioned why the system started with 7, I figured it just sounded better.”

Armed with this new knowledge of MAL’s rating system, many users are making serious changes to their lists. “I hated Glasslip when it was airing, but I gave it a 5 because I thought that was as low as the system went,” user Mangalingus said. “Now that I know that I can rank things lower, I can give it the awful score it deserves.”

In related news, anime fans with sticks up their butts still have not realized that giving a 10 to an anime does not necessarily mean that it has to be perfect and that not using the rating basically makes a 9 the equivalent of a 10.

About the author

Bob_Squob is neither a Bob nor a Squob, but they’re both common enough names to form an alias. After roaming the earth for 10,000 years with no purpose, he came upon Anime Maru, and thought to himself, “It is good. I will make my home here.” He currently resides in the darkness for fear that his taste in anime will be discovered and exploited as a weakness. Twitter: @Bob_Squob

Real problem this. The ratings asks you to give an objective rating instead of an subjective one (good/bad, versus loved/hated it). I know that i am able to rate a show purely subjective on the 7+ end of the scale, but for a show that i disliked, but that has obvious qualities, like K-ON, it’s hard to justify that the show is “very bad”, because it isn’t, but at the same time, my enjoyment of it was no higher than a 3. On the lower end of the scale, the “it’s not bad, but it is not at all for me” kicks in hard, and i rarely end up giving a show less than 4.